How to Fix Microsoft Forms Not Accepting Responses

Microsoft Forms is one of the simplest tools for creating surveys, quizzes, and feedback forms. It integrates well with Microsoft 365 and makes collecting responses effortless. But sometimes, you might run into a frustrating issue — your form suddenly stops accepting responses.

You may see a message like “This form is no longer accepting responses”, “Something went wrong”, or simply find that the Submit button doesn’t work. Whether you’re the form creator or a respondent, this guide will help you troubleshoot and fix the problem quickly.

Let’s go step-by-step through the most common causes and solutions for Microsoft Forms not accepting responses.

Fix Microsoft Forms Not Accepting Responses

You’ll need access to the Microsoft Forms dashboard and (if applicable) your Microsoft 365 account. If the issue affects a shared or organizational form, make sure you have permission to edit or manage it.

Tip: Before you start troubleshooting, open Microsoft Forms in a private or incognito browser window. This helps you rule out browser cache or account conflicts right away.

Step 1: Check If Responses Are Turned Off

The most common reason Microsoft Forms stops accepting submissions is that the Accept responses option is disabled.

1. Go to Microsoft Forms.
2. Sign in with your Microsoft account.
3. Open the form that isn’t accepting responses.
4. At the top, check for a toggle labeled Accept responses.
5. If it’s turned Off, click to turn it On.

When the toggle is off, the form automatically displays the message “This form is no longer accepting responses.” Turning it back on re-enables the form instantly.

Step 2: Check the Form’s Response Limits

Each form in Microsoft Forms can collect up to 400,000 responses per form, depending on your Microsoft 365 plan. If your form has reached that limit, it will automatically stop accepting new responses.

To check this:

1. Open the form in the Microsoft Forms dashboard.
2. Go to the Responses tab.
3. Review the total number of responses listed at the top.

If you’re near the limit, you can either export and delete older responses to make room or create a duplicate form to continue collecting submissions.

Step 3: Verify Your Organization’s Form Settings

If you’re using Microsoft Forms through a work or school account, your organization’s administrator might have restricted who can submit responses.

1. Open your form and click the three dots (…) in the upper-right corner.
2. Choose Settings.
3. Under Who can fill out this form, check whether it’s set to:
   • Only people in my organization can respond
   • Anyone with the link can respond

If you’re trying to collect responses from external users (outside your organization), make sure Anyone with the link is selected.

If you don’t see this option, it may be disabled by your admin. In that case, contact your Microsoft 365 administrator to enable external sharing for Forms.

Step 4: Check Expiration Date Settings

Microsoft Forms allows you to set an end date for form responses. After that date passes, submissions will automatically close.

1. Open your form and go to Settings (via the three-dot menu).
2. Scroll to the Start date and End date options.
3. Make sure the End date hasn’t already passed.

If the date has expired, uncheck End date or change it to a future date. Once updated, click Save — your form will immediately start accepting responses again.

Step 5: Disable Required Login (If Necessary)

If respondents are being asked to sign in but can’t, this can prevent submissions — especially if they don’t have an account in your organization.

1. Go to your form’s Settings.
2. Under Who can fill out this form, uncheck Record name if it’s enabled.
3. Select Anyone can respond instead of restricting it to your domain.

This makes the form publicly accessible to anyone with the link, regardless of whether they have a Microsoft account.

Step 6: Check Network or Browser Issues

Sometimes the form appears broken due to a browser or network issue. Here’s what to do:

1. Clear your browser cache and cookies.
2. Try accessing the form in a different browser (Edge, Chrome, or Firefox).
3. Disable browser extensions temporarily, especially ad blockers or script filters.
4. Test in Incognito Mode to rule out account conflicts.

If the form loads but the Submit button doesn’t respond, it’s likely a script-blocking extension or cached page issue.

Step 7: Check Microsoft Forms Service Status

If multiple users can’t submit forms, Microsoft’s service may be temporarily down.

1. Go to the Microsoft 365 Service Health Status.
2. Sign in with your Microsoft 365 admin account.
3. Check for any ongoing incidents affecting Microsoft Forms.

If an outage is listed, you’ll need to wait until Microsoft resolves it. Service disruptions are rare but can occasionally impact form submissions across all users.

Step 8: Check Response Permissions in Shared Forms

If the form is shared with collaborators, someone else may have edited its settings.

1. Open the shared form.
2. Click the Share button → Share to collaborate.
3. Ensure you still have Can edit access.
4. Ask collaborators to confirm they haven’t disabled responses.

If another user owns the form, only they can toggle the “Accept responses” setting or modify permissions.

Step 9: Duplicate the Form (as a Quick Workaround)

If none of the above fixes restore the form, you can clone it to quickly re-enable response collection.

1. Open Microsoft Forms and find the problem form.
2. Click the three dots (…) next to it.
3. Choose Copy.
4. Open the new form and verify that Accept responses is turned on.
5. Share the new form link with your audience.

This method creates an identical form with all questions preserved but a fresh response count, which bypasses most configuration or permission issues.

Step 10: Contact Microsoft Support (For Enterprise Users)

If you’re using Microsoft Forms through Microsoft 365 Business or Education and none of these solutions work, your organization’s admin can open a support ticket directly with Microsoft.

1. Visit the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.
2. Navigate to Support → New service request.
3. Provide your form link and a description of the problem.

Microsoft’s support team can check if there’s a backend issue with your tenant’s Forms service or response quota.

Wrapping Up

When Microsoft Forms stops accepting responses, it’s almost always caused by a disabled Accept responses setting, expired form dates, or organization-level restrictions. The good news is that most of these problems can be fixed in minutes.

Start by turning on response collection and verifying sharing permissions. Then, check for expired dates, browser issues, or service interruptions. If you’re working within an organization, coordinate with your admin to ensure external responses are allowed.

Once fixed, your form should start accepting submissions again — and you can get back to collecting the feedback, data, or quiz responses you need without interruptions.